Project #1:
I've been bugging J to re-stain our covered front porch for the last several years with no luck. We built our house in 2006, so the deck isn't that old, but the builder doesn't use the highest quality stain and we were definitely due for a new stain. Since J had no intentions of re-staining the deck, I took it on as my project. J did power wash the deck for me though.
Day 1- C and I put on masks and went to work. I used the small orbital sander and sanded down almost the entire top railing... until the sander broke. I didn't break it. J said the sander was 15+ years old and just wore out.
C took a picture of me replacing the sand paper before the sander broke
another picture courtesy of C... I'm tired and dirty!
before and after sanding
Day 2- J bought me a new orbital sander. I finished the top rail and the front of the rail. I started on the floor boards with J's big sander. He forgot to show me how to adjust the belt and the sand paper kept sliding off, so I didn't make it very far before I called it quits for the day.
Day 3- J made adjustments to the sander so the sand paper stays on! Another picture courtesy of C. Geez, he's getting really good at taking pictures!
Almost half way done. This is way more work than I expected it to be! I was hoping to get more done today, but I decided to stop when my fingers started tingling from the vibration and my arms were hurting from applying pressure to the sander.
Day 4- while J visited with the neighbors and watched a Disney movie with C... I spent several more hours sanding the deck late into the night.
Day 5- I finished sanding the deck and started on the steps. I mainly used the small orbital sander today. I like it better. It's easier to control, doesn't hurt my arms and I can get into smaller spaces with it.
Day 6- finished the steps, sanded the spindles and front of rail, and did some touch up sanding on the deck. I probably would have spent another whole day sanding if I hadn't run out of sand paper. Darn my dad for teaching me "if your going to do something, do it right". Why couldn't he teach me "fast and furious wins the race" instead? It looks good, but being a perfectionist I still see area's that could be improved. But I'm really tired of sanding!!
Day 7- I used J's compressor to blow the dust out of the crevices and then washed the deck off.
Day 8- I used a deck brightener, which really brought out the beauty of our redwood deck.
dry picture after deck brightener
Day 9- staining! After researching, I went with Sikken's Cetol SRD in transparent Natural color.
view of half the spindles stained
staining all 4 sides of each spindle
the spindles, rail... and everything but the floor boards done. I ran out of stain after 5+ hours of work
Day 10- I bought a second gallon of stain and finished the deck! 1 1/2 weeks worth of work and our deck looks new again! Well, other than the 4 risers that I need to buy an outdoor paint to match the house. And I did the entire thing MYSELF!
No comments:
Post a Comment